I woke up with Shane's arm wrapped around my waist. I tried to wiggle out but he pulled me even closer and I squealed in surprise. I heard him laugh under his breath and I knew my attempt to get up without waking him had failed.
"Morning." He slurred.
"Hey," I said breathless by just looking at him. It still amazed me that I was with Shane. That he had chosen little old me was a shock.
His eyes finally opened and he smiled before kissing me. It was light and airy but still made my stomach flutter.
The sound of shattering glass seemed to fill the house and we were both of the bed in a second. I threw on some sleeper shorts and a tank top and ran out the door after Shane who'd only bothered with sweats.
We passed Michael's door just as he pulled it open with Eve right behind him. We stared at each other for a minute before the four of us raced down the stairs and came to a halt. The front windows all seemed to be in one piece and the door hadn't been broken down.
Carefully Michael headed to the kitchen. We followed him but he stayed in front, not allowing anyone past him.
The door squeaked slightly when Michael pushed it and I stood on my tippy-toes trying to see past both Shane and Michael. From what I could see, which wasn't much, Grant was sitting at the kitchen table and a smashed pitcher of some liquid lay on the floor at Nikki's feet. The pink liquid was pooling around her bare feet, but she didn't seem to notice.
Neither of them moved as we entered the room. They continued their massive stare contest until Michael went over and started picking up the glass. Suddenly Nikki seemed to come to her senses.
"Sorry about that Michael. Don't worry I'll pick it up." She bent down and scooped up all the glass in a single fist and went to throw it in the trash can. She promptly went to the sink to wash off the juice and I noticed the pink tint was stained with a much darker red. She looked at the blood for a moment and then turned smiling sinisterly at Michael. She held her hand out like he was a dog she was trying to keep clam.
"Want some?" She taunted.
"No, I'm fine." Michael said calmly.
"Suit yourself." She sighed and grabbed a paper towel and wiped her hands like she hadn't just offered Michael a chance to suck her blood.
"Nikki." Grant said looking down.
"I know." She said coming over to the cluster of Eve, Shane, and I still blocking the door. She seemed much better. Color had returned to her cheeks and she didn't seem weak at all. In fact if it weren't for her pale hair I would have said she seemed perfectly normal.
"Is your hair going to stay like that forever?" I blurted.
"I don't know. Maybe. I don't think it's that bad. Do you?" She stopped a few feet away from Shane placing herself between Michael and us.
"I think it looks nice on you. It makes you look…um…more mature." She raised a single eyebrow but then huffed a laugh. She stood there watching me and I couldn't seem to break the eye contact.
Until the doorbell. It broke my concentration and I turned to see if I could see past the frosted glass, but all I saw was a dark shape.
"You'd better answer that." Nikki said from behind me. I turned to the hall and looked through the peephole first.
Standing on the other side was a very well dressed Jo-Ann stood beyond the door looking awkward. I pulled the door open and Jo-Ann smiled.
"I hope this isn't a bad time." She said smiling weakly.
"No, come on in." I stood to the side so she could walk in. She didn't venture far, but she went far enough to see into the living room.
"Is anyone else home?"
"Yeah we're here Jo-Ann." Michael came forward with Eve right behind him. Shane joined me as we went into the living room.
"I just came by to tell you that I'm leaving. I got a job in San Diego and I'm going to take it. I need to get out of here. So many bad memories, you know." We'd all taken a seat, but she had remained standing.
"That's great everyone else got away, you should have the chance to. When do you leave?" I asked.
"I have a car waiting outside to take me to the airport. It really was a last minute choice to stop by here. I thought you deserved to know that none of us would be here any longer."
"Oh, well that's great. I hope you enjoy San Diego and forget the bad memories that happened here. I wish I could." I said. She nodded and turned back towards the door.
"Thank you for your help again. We never could have gotten away from all of this. We will be forever grateful." With that she left, slamming the door in the process.
"Well that was interesting. I can't believe they'd just leave you like that." Grant said clearly upset.
"You mean you can't believe they'd just leave us." Nikki said. Neither of them had appeared but we could hear them loud and clear.
Just like the first time I'd met the other Sins bodies were suddenly falling from the sky. They both landed gracefully and barely seemed jolted.
"Where are you coming from?" Eve asked startled.
"The rafters. Where else? They give us the perfect view without anyone seeing us. Not many people look up." Nikki said like it was obvious as she took a seat next to me. I squirmed away and Shane pulled me close but Nikki just laughed.
"You have no need to worry. Like I said we need your help. We're not going to risk that." Nikki said as Grant took a seat on the armrest next to her.
"Any clue as to what you need our help means?" Shane asked.
"Not yet." Grant answered. "But we'll let you know as soon as we figure something out. As for now Nikki and I are off to go shopping." He held his hand out and pulled her up from the chair.
"Don't worry about what us being here means. At least not yet. Just pretend that we're not even here and we won't bother you until we need you."
"Okay." I answered, but they were already out the door and down the street walking hand in hand. Nikki waved through the window and smiled widely.
"I feel like your sister would be really good at Poker." Shane said once we'd been quite for a while and all we could do was burst out laughing.